The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) took action on proposals designed to examine and explore new opportunities to fund the mission of this church. The council also considered proposals on the formation of a single ELCA lay roster and more when it met here April 9-12, 2015. . .

The ELCA launched a five-year fundraising campaign February, 2014 called "Always Being Made New: The Campaign for the ELCA." The goal of this fundraising effort by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to raise $198 million. . .

. . .The Delaware-Maryland Synod Council met on January 12, 2013...Faced with a decrease in mission support of $138,000 over last year, the Council voted to cap 2013 expenses at 90% for all budget items that are not fixed. . .

. . . We also are told that ELCA treasurer, Rev. Linda Norman, announced “Financial contributions from congregations for the work of synods and the churchwide organization in the form of Mission Support for the first. . .

. . . Bishop Marcus Lohrmann said in a report to the synod Friday and in an interview with The Blade this week that the synod's budget has been shrinking for years and has reached the point where drastic changes, not just temporary fixes, are necessary. . .

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s largest seminary, Luther Seminary in Minnesota, sent shockwaves through the denomination with the recent admittance that they are facing extreme financial difficulties. . .

Financial trouble in the liberal Saint Paul Area Synod. Synod Bishop Peter Rogness reports, “after sailing through the first ten months of fiscal 2011 (Feb. 1 to Jan. 31) a healthy four percent ahead of the previous year, we encountered a poor December and January and. . .

. . .Revenue totaled 46.1 million for the nine-month period compared with $46.7 million the previous year, a decrease of $0.6 million or 1.3 percent. In addition, $2.8 million in support was released from restriction or designation during the period. Total revenue and support for the nine-month period of $48.9 million was favorable to the budget by $2.2 million and unfavorable to the prior year by $1.4 million. . .

. . .the college (Wartburg) has pointed to declining enrollment and a $3.7 million budget gap as a reason for the cuts. Graham Garner, a Wartburg spokesman, said the college has seen a decline in enrollment for each of the last five years, from just over 1,800 students in 2011 to about 1,537 today. . .

. . .“We are very concerned about the cost of higher education and people going into ministry with large levels of debt,” Morrow said. Student debt has hindered the number of people going into the ministry, . .

. . .Women of the ELCA executive board...eliminated two staff positions...At the end of September, with the new budget year beginning February 1, 2018, revenue is at $1,275,085 ($1,222,014 below fiscal year projections), according to Executive Board Treasurer Anna Sarver. Expenses at $1,778,374 were at 57% of the budget ($3,093,318) with four months left in the fiscal year. . .

. . .The necessary condition for the possibility of a context of free and open dialogue and criticism of capitalism among students and professors at Luther Seminary is the existence itself of capitalism, an economic system apparently capable of providing the requisite funds for the discussion there to occur.